African Folklore: An Encyclopedia - Marshalls University

African folklore 910
A drum language, like all surrogate languages, is not, however, a perfect substitute for
spoken language. Speech is slightly modi-fied by its use. The use of stereotyped phrases
greatly lengthens the message and the time necessary for its relay. An Akan drum can
only produce approximately 500 words, excluding proper names and titles (Nketia 1971,
711). As a result, some topics are difficult to communicate. The drum has a limited
capacity to conquer time because it can only be heard up to about twenty miles away. If
the destination of a message is greater than twenty miles (or, in some cases of dense
forest, only seven miles), the message must be relayed from one drummer to another
(Carrington 1949, 28–31). As a result, instantaneous communication across a greater
distance is not possible.
Surrogate languages are extremely important because they transmit special messages.
They allow for “secret” communication to occur publicly. The talking drum transmits
information “secretly” through segmented public space. Like a radio, it sends messages
that can be listened to by anyone within its range. At the same time, it can only be
understood by those who understand the language in which the message is transmitted.
Unlike radio, however, only those who can recognize the use of tones on the drum are
actually aware that messages are even being transmitted. As a result, African groups have
used the drum and other surrogate-language instruments to convey warning messages and
mobilize their people.
Africans used the talking drum as a strategic method to warn against the arrival of
slave catchers during the slave trade. Once their use became known to non-users and as a
mark of their effectiveness, slave masters in the Americas (Yankah 1997, 7) and colonial
governors in Africa (Carrington 1949, 76) outlawed their use. Despite this, black
Africans ingeniously found their way around the problem by using other instruments,
such as whistles, to communicate. For example, during the 1940s, Yakusu schoolboys in
the former Belgium Congo (present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo) secretly
warned each other that their white African schoolmasters were approaching by whistling
words (Carrington 1949, 76).
During the period of slavery in the Americas, surrogate languages were used by
African slaves to organize riots and rebellions, despite the great ethnic and linguistic
differences that existed among them (Yankah 1997, 7). Africans in the Americas had
come from a diverse array of locations and backgrounds throughout the whole of the
continent of Africa. The drum, therefore, served as an extremely powerful substitute for
language. It made communication across the plantations in the new world, otherwise
forbidden, possible. As a result, it provided African slaves with a tool to try to integrate
themselves into a new identity—that of African American.
In spite of their great legacy, use of surrogate languages has decreased (Carrington
1949, 81–85; Finnegan 1970, 408). Modern technological advances in communication
have overshadowed their traditional importance. Subsequently, new generations are less
interested in their appeal, although some contemporary musicians, such as King Sunny
Ade of Nigeria, make use of the Yoruba pressure drum.
References
Carrington, J.F. 1949. Talking Drums of Africa. London: Carey Kingsgate Press.
Finnegan, R. 1970. Oral Literature in Africa. Oxford: Clarendon Press.